Improvement in the manufacture of draw-heads



2 Sheets-Sheet l A P LINDSAY Manufacture of Draw-Head. No. 197,872.

tented Deb. 4,1877.

NA PE ERS, PHOTOJJTHOGRAPH ER/WAS 2Sheets-Sheet2.

A'. PQLINDSAY. Manufacture of Draw-Headh No. 197,872. Patented Dec.4, 1877-.

r .INVENTOR I. M

N. PETERS, PHOTO-LITHOGRAFHER. WASHINGTON D L U rrED STATES PATENT QE IoEQ ALEXAN R r; LINDsAY, OF NOETHUMBE LAND, PENNSYLV NIA;

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF DRAW-HEADS;

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 197,872, dated December 4,1877; application filed May 8, 1877. I

To all whom it may concern:

Be-it known'that I, ALEXANDER P. Li n SAY, .of Northumberland,' in the county of Northumberland and State of Pennsylvania,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements *in Process and Apparatus for Making Draw-Heads; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it'pertains to make and use it, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification.

My invention relates to an improved method and apparatus for the manufacture of drawheads for railroad-cars.

Heretofore draw-heads have ordinarily been made with the plate of, the draw head riveted to the shoulder formed on the shank of same,

and'when so constructed havebeen found to be defective, owing to the fact that the several rivets of a draw-head soon become weakened by the uneve'n'strain exerted on the same, and, also,-the concussion'produced on the drawheads as the cars come in contact with-each other has the effect of weakening and break V a weld of equal strength with the solid and uncut portion of the iron.

The object of my invention is to manufacture draw-heads with the cap and shank formed of a single piece of iron, whereby all danger of breaking the cap or severing the cap from the shank of the draw-head is avoided; and to that end my invention consists, first, in the method of manufacturing draw-heads, which consists essentially in forming a blank of a single piece of material to constitute the shank of the draw-head, with one end of the same thickened or re-enforced, and then upsetting said re-enforced endto form the draw-head cap, and finally cutting or punching out the interior portion of the capto form the mouth of the draw-head second, in the several details 'of construction, as will more fully appear from g the following description and claims.

sents the blank. it has been upset, and the cutting -block and templet in position to remove a portion of the cap to form the mouth of the draw-head. Fig;

6 is a modification of blank.

A represents the bed-piece of a steam-hammer, formed with guides to a, within which are placed the parts B Bof the die, part'B be-f ingrigidly secured to the bed-piece, while part, 13' is adapted to have a lateral movement therein, which is imparted by a han d-lever,*b,

the lower end of which is fulcrumed to the bed-piece at b,'and is connected to the sliding ornioving portion B of the die by a link, 0, the ends of which'are hinged, respectively, to

the'die and operating-lever. When lever b is depressed, it serves to draw the movable part B of the die away from the stationary half B,

and allow the blank to be placed between the same. Parts B B of the die are each provided with grooves 0, extending from their upper faces downwardly the length of the side plates of the shank, at which point the parts are recessed at e. The upper portion or face of the die is made convex in form, and the openings leading to grooves e are beveled, in order to give sufiicient strength to that portion of the draw-head when the cap is united to the shank. The inner portion f of the face of the die is cut away to form an oblong recess of the size of the mouth of the drawhead, thus forming an annular raised surface,

F, of the desired size and form of the draw head cap.

G is an impression-block, the edge of which is beveled, as shown at g. This block is made to fit snugly within the oblong recess f of the die.

D represents the blank, which is formed out of a single piece of wrought-iron, the sides a of which are of the desired width and thickness of the shank-plates of the draw-head, while one end, d, is thickened or re-enforced, as shown at d, for a purpose hereinafter described.

The blank, after it has been raised to a red heat, is placed between the dies, the plates or sides 0 being situated in the grooves e of the die, while the re-enforced or thickened end d is placed on top of the impression-block G. The movable part B of the die is then forced snugly against the stationary portion B, and securely held against displacement by means of a strap or clamp, H, and wedge H, or in any other desired manner. The steam-hammer is then set in motion, and the hammerhead J, the face of which is of concave form, operates to upset the re-enforced end d of the blank, and spread the metal upon the surface of the die, and the upsetting of the metal is continued until the entire upper portion of the die is covered by the same.

It will be observed that the upper surface of the impression-block G is slightly raised above the surface of the die, and hence the metal will be forcedfrom the center to the outer edges ofthe die, thus forming that portion of the'cap corresponding to the annular-raised portion F-of the die of the desired thickness of metal, while the central portion of the cap will be considerably thinner, and the metal nearly severed therefrom on the line Which corresponds with the outer edge of the impression-block Gr. After the metal has been upset to form the cap of the required thickness, the templetK, one end of which is hinged to the stationarypartB of the die at i,is turned over onto the surface of the cap, and a cuttingblock or punch, L, is placed within the templet, the latter serving as a gage, to cause the cutting-edge j of the block L toregister with the. line or groove formed in the cap by the outer edge of the impression-block. When the block L has been secured in place the hammer is caused to descend and strike the same, and thus cut out an oblong piece from the interior portion of the cap, to form the mouth or opening of the draw-head. The ragged outer edge of the cap, caused byupsetting and spreading the metal on the face of the die, is out therefrom by a punch or shears, thus forminga complete andperfect draw-bar out of a single piece of material, without welding or riveting any portion of the same. 1

It is evident that the blank, instead of being formed solid, as shown in Fig. 4, may be made of a fagot, and bent into the form illustrated in Fig. 6, when the ends are welded together at j. The draw-head made from the blank last described will be much superior to those in ordinary use, as all .that portion of the same on which there is an uneven strain, and which is subjected to hard usage, will be made without seam or joint, and hence of equal strength and tenacity throughout.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The methodof manufacturing draw-heads, substantially as set forth, consisting in, first, making a blank of the desired shape, and substantially as shown, with a re-enforced end; second, in upsetting the re-enforced end by compression to form the cap; and, third, in punching or cutting out the interior portion of the cap to form the mouth of the draw-head, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, with a two-part die for manufacturing draw-heads, of an oblong impression-block, adapted to snugly fit within a correspondingly-shaped recess formed in the face of the die, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, with the two-part die and impression-block, of a cutting-block and templet, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination, with the bed-piece of.

a steam-hammer, of a two-part die, said parts grooved toreceive the shank of a draw-head, an im pression-block to force the metal toward the outer edge of the die, and a cutting-block and templet, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this 5th day of 

